A red dye (carthamin) to be extracted from a safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is a compound which is useful as a lipstick or rouge or a red-dying substance. However, since extraction of a large amount of carthamin from a safflower is difficult, a method of producing a large amount of carthamin has heretofore been studied earnestly.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application Nos. 62-69984, 62-69985 and 63-199766 illustrate methods of producing a mixture containing a red dye by callus-incubation of cells of flower buds of a safflower. The object of the methods is to produce carthamin. As having an Rf value which is extremely near to the Rf value of carthamin, the dye produced by the methods was considered to be carthamin. However, since the dye produced by the methods was not isolated as a pure form, identification as to whether the dye is surely carthamin or not was not made by the prior art.
Under the situation, the present inventors investigated and studied the related arts so as to isolate and identify the dye to be obtained by callus-incubation of cells of flower buds of a safflower. As a result, they have found that the dye formed by such callus-incubation is different from carthamin.